last year i hatched one tangerine albino that was much paler than the others from my tangerine albino het/hypo (maybe homozygous hypo) that is the patriarch of my hybino project.
It just happened again this year. the difference was immediately apparent, as soon as the second of these two (the paler one) slit its egg.
you can see the diff in the picture. Note the paler long body section on top of the darker, richer-colored body. And look at the heads--the diff is pretty obvious there, too.
Now, what does it mean? Dunno yet. It'll be another year, at least, before I can test breed the male I hatched last year. If IT proves to be a hybino, then maybe we CAN distinguish hybinos from the other tangerine albinos because they're paler. But maybe not. There's a lot of indivdual variation in color in all the hondo types.
Another test next year might give even better insight. With some luck, my pair of hypo het/albinos will breed: 1/4 of their babies will be albinos, and since ALL the babies from that pairing will be hypos, the 1/4 that are albinos--which will be easily distinguishable--WILL BE hybinos. Definite hybinos. So then we can compare THOSE known hybinos with the other tangerine albinos from the hypo project that might--or might not--be hybinos, and with last year's pale baby and this year's (I hope to get more of them, many eggs still to hatch). If the definite hybinos look like the two "pale" albinos, then maybe we can start extending the lesson learned.
There's one more test underway, too: i've got a couple big clutches of eggs from hypo females bred to my tangerine albino het/hypo MAYBE homozygous hypo male. If they ALL come out hypo, i'll be ready to declare him a hypo and thus a hybino. If ANY hatches not hypo, it'll prove he's het/hypo but not homozygous hypo. Regardless, those hypos will all be hypos het/albino, arguably the most exciting thing I'm producing this year. so those will be the kinds of clutches that get me up in the middle of the night to check on, when they start hatching!
peace
terry
